The Natural World

We saw an open Amazon box on the nature counter at Kidspace. My son wants to know what is inside every Amazon box he sees, so I lifted him up to check. Instead of the packaging bubbles I was expecting, we saw this bird’s nest. We looked at it together for a while.

Somehow the bird found down and moss to line the nest with. Those aren’t things I see in Southern California very often. When I touched it, it felt cushioned inside. It felt like the softest, most comfortable thing a baby bird could want to rest in. I felt a flash of love for my son in my chest — and recognition. This bird loves its babies like I love my little boy, I thought.

This sea star had just eaten a shrimp when we visited the touch tanks at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. You can see its body inside the sea star’s stomach, and some of its antennae are still sticking out.